Important Dates in the Lives of Jesus and Mary 

Agrippa learned of the plot against Paul, Ananias was removed as high priest and was replaced by Jonathan. 

Felix undoubtedly favored Jonathan for high priest, since Jonathan helped Felix get appointed as governor of 

Judea. Jonathan's appointment as high priest must be placed sometime after Felix became governor and after 

the conflict between Paul and the Jewish leaders. 

    During Felix's reign, Agrippa removed Ananias as high priest and replaced him with Jonathan. Now 

Jonathan had supported Felix as the choice for governor of Judea. Even so, Felix because angry with Jonathan 

and successfully plotted his murder, as Josephus relates.

670

 Herod Agrippa II then chose Ismael to be the next 

Jewish high priest, while Felix was still in office.

671

 Thus the high priests during Felix's reign were Ananias, 

Jonathan, and Ismael. 

    When speaking before Felix the governor of Judea, Paul states that Felix had been ruler over this nation  for 

many years.  (Acts 24:10). Since Felix became governor of Judea about the 12th year of Claudius' reign (

A.D.

37), he would had to have been governor for at least 4 or 5 years for Paul to call that length of time  many 

years.  Claudius died during his 14th year as emperor of Rome; Nero succeeded him. This places Paul's arrest 

in Jerusalem no earlier than the first year or two of Nero's reign, so that the  many years  of Felix's reign 

would, at the least, refer to Claudius' 12th, 13th, and 14th years and to the first year or two of Nero's reign. 

The second year of Nero's reign, in this revised chronology, is 

A.D.

 41. Since we concluded above that that 

Paul left Asia for Jerusalem in spring of 

A.D.

 41, the term  many years  would then refer to the approx. 5 

years that Felix had been governor up to that point in time. 

    According to Acts, Felix kept Paul in prison for about 2 years (Acts 24:27). Paul was arrested very soon after 

he arrived in Jerusalem (Acts 24:11). He arrived in Jerusalem about the time of Pentecost, in late spring/early 

summer. So the 2 years that Paul was imprisoned under Felix would then run from early summer of 

A.D.

 41 to 

about the same time of year in 

A.D.

 43. Nero replaced Felix with Festus (Acts 24:27), as Josephus also 

relates.

672

 Festus heard Paul's case promptly, and soon afterwards king Herod Agrippa II also heard Paul's 

case (Acts 25:1 12; 25:13 32). But Paul wished to avoid being sent back to Jerusalem for trial, where the 

leaders of the Jews would have tried to have him put to death (Acts 25:7 12). So Paul made an appeal to be 

heard before the emperor, and Festus granted his appeal. Since there are no long delays mentioned by Acts 

and since Festus was of a mind to dispense Paul's case promptly (unlike his predecessor), Paul's journey to 

Rome must have begun that same year, in 

A.D.

 43. 

    Festus and Agrippa decided to send Paul to Rome by boat (Acts 26:32   27:1). But the voyage was delayed 

and the fast day (the Day of Atonement, which is in the fall) had already gone by (Acts 27:9). Clearly, this 

voyage began in early fall. Paul then warned them that they should not continue the journey, because the 

Mediterranean is dangerous to sail upon in winter, but they continued on anyway (Acts 27:10 15). The result 

was that they were shipwrecked and had to spend the winter on the island of Malta (Acts 27:10   28:11). Since 

the sailing season opens again, after the winter, in early February, they could have set sail for Rome from 

Malta in February and arrived in Rome in late February or early March. The winter they spent on Malta took 

place from late 

A.D.

 43 to early 

A.D.

 44, and Paul arrived in Rome early in the year 

A.D.

 44. 

    According to Acts, Paul then spent  two whole years  in Rome, preaching the Gospel quite freely, living in 

his own residence, but with a soldier to keep watch over him (Acts 28:16 31). Those two whole years must 

have been early 

A.D.

 44 to early 

A.D.

 46, that is, until early in the 7th year of Nero. As concluded above, the 

Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles were both most likely written during these first two years that Paul 

spent in Rome, between early 

A.D.

 44 and early 

A.D.

 46. 

The Martyrdom of James the Less 

    Saint Jerome tells us that James the Less suffered martyrdom about the time of the Passover, in the 30th 

year since Christ's Ascension and in the 7th year of Nero.  And so he ruled the church of Jerusalem thirty 

years, that is until the seventh year of Nero . 

673

 In this chronology, the 7th year of Nero is 

A.D.

 46. If James 

died at Passover in the spring of Nero's 7th year, then one would expect Luke to have mentioned this at the 

end of Acts, which was completed about 

A.D.

 46. Luke mentions  James the Less repeatedly in Acts of the 

Apostles (Acts 1:13; 12:17; 15:13 21), yet no mention is made in Acts of James' martyrdom. 

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